Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Guitarist
Steve Jones of the punk band the Sex Pistols hosted a program on the
old Indie 103.1 called Jonsey’s Jukebox. Featuring groundbreaking new
music combined with guest interviews and discussions in a very laid-back
manner, the program lasted five years on Indie, until the station
changed formats to Spanish as KDLD in 2009.

In
2010 it got picked up by KROQ (106.7 FM) where it had a good run
through early 2013. Now its back, courtesy of KLOS (95.5 FM).

The
station says this of Jones’ program: “the only rule is doing whatever
Jones wants.” That means exactly what it says. Jones brings in records
from his personal collection and his guests from the past are legendary:
Robert Plant, Brian Wilson, Iggy Pop, Courtney Love ... and more.
Guests on the brand-new KLOS version that began in late October have
included Billy Idol. Fred Armisen and Joe Walsh.

Hear the Jukebox every Friday from noon to 2 p.m. The answer the question: What exactly does this mean for KLOS?

That AM Sound

I
thought it was just me ... certain songs from the 1960s or ‘70s I hear
on the radio (or via other means) just don’t sound like I remember
them.

Certainly
that has much to do with having heard them on AM broadcast stations,
what with the limited fidelity of most AM radios of the time. But it
isn’t just that - it’s as if the processing was totally different.
Punchier bass, for example. Or a fullness that is hard to explain,
though experts in the production of record producer Phil Spector’s “Wall
of Sound” could come close.

Interestingly,
it had everything to do with AM radio, or more accurately with trying
to make the sound coming out of limited-fidelity AM radios sound as good
as it could sound.

The
engineers at stations such as those in the RKO chain (KHJ, KFRC, WRKO,
etc.) were geniuses when it came to sound processing. I was told that at
KHJ here and KFRC in San Francisco, the audio processing chain was
custom designed with multiple “magic boxes” that allowed tweaks to be
smooth as silk without creating any harsh tones. Some say that at their
peak of popularity, those two stations sounded as close to FM as an AM
station could sound.

But FM sound was not the actual goal. Clarity and fullness were.

Richard
Kaufman, who used to play an oldies format on the internet (Ricky the
K’s Solid Gold Time Machine), has regrouped and is now using his talent
to make songs sound like they once did.

A
former small town DJ himself, Kaufman’s influences growing up included
many of the East Coast versions of top-40 radio including WABC/New York.
And he’s spent some time recreating the audio processing chain used by
WABC in order to make songs sound like they used to ... when they were
played on WABC.

“I
have set up a vintage audio chain specifically designed to help digital
recordings sound denser and richer with more punch and more bass,”
Kaufman told me. “My whole concept is to get musicians, music producers
and record labels to send me their thin sounding digital audio masters
and I’ll run them through the audio chain and fatten them up.”

Want
to hear for yourself? Kaufman has set up a YouTube account with songs
that he has run through his processing. You can find it at http://tinyurl.com/AMSound, and I have to say, it is impressive.

While
listening to the Beau Brummels’ “Just a Little,” a link to a recording
from the 45 RPM record -- also on YouTube -- happened to show up. So I
clicked on it ... and the difference is night and day. Kaufman’s version
is definitely fuller, with more “up front” background vocals. The way I
remember.

Better?
That’s debatable. The goal of audio processing in the era of FM radio
and later vinyl records was to lay off of the processing. To have a more
“open” feel. AM top-40 sound processing was not meant to be open at
all, but instead to jump out of the speaker; songs were processed to get
around the typical AM radio’s limitations.

But
it is a unique sound that is lacking in the minds of some, and it
explains why so many oldies of that era just don’t sound right to me
today. Take a listen for yourself and let me know what you think.

Cumulus Death Watch

Closing
stock price as of Friday, November 13: 27 cents per share, a 6.9
percent decline from the previous Friday’s close of 29 cents. Still an
improvement from November 12th’s 23 cents per share.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Dave Beasing, programmer of
The Sound (100.3 FM), took some time last Friday to speak at San Pedro High
School’s Career Day. Speaking to two different classes for about 30 minutes
each, Beasing told of radio’s challenges and how programming, promotion and
marketing all work together.

“When I first started in
radio, social media didn’t even exist,” he told the classes. Now it’s one of our
marketing tools.” He showed video clips of material from Mark in the Morning as
a demonstration of how to attract an audience, and told of how some bits that at
first seem to fall flat can be saved through creativity.

“Media is changing,”
Beasing explained. “All of the traditional so-called legacy media now involve
very high-tech modern skills. You might ask yourself ‘what does this video have
to do with radio?’ A lot ... if you do it right.

“Someone going into radio
today should be great at shooting and editing video, web design, social media,
all of this. Because as a radio station we need to be part of our listeners
lives 24-7. If somebody is your friend, they are always with you -- not just
when they want something from you. So we need to be part of their lives even
when they're not listening ... when they're on Facebook, when they're on
Instagram, when they're on Twitter, we want to be there.”

Changes at KABC

Last week’s mention of Art
Bell’s return to local radio via KABC (790 AM) neglected to mention the other
changes at the heritage talker.

Leo Terrell had been
holding down the KABC morning courtroom since Judge Christina Perez left the
station in May. Now Terrell’s version of the program is gone as well, a victim
of the station’s ongoing ratings problems. Terrell remains with KABC in a
fill-in capacity.

In its place is the Peter
Tilden Show every weekday morning from 10 a.m. until 12 noon; Tilden had been
heard previously on the station at night.

But wait - Tilden is still
on at night, albeit earlier than his former 9 to midnight slot. Supposedly live
at 6 p.m. as well as his morning duties, Tilden must have the longest working
day in talk radio. Maybe that’s why his shifts sound like a taped podcast, made
using bad equipment (can someone buy him a real microphone so it doesn’t sound
like he’s talking through a wall?) ...

At 7 p.m. is the Best of
KABC, whatever that means, followed at 8:00 by two hours of Jonathon
Brandmeier’s syndicated program, Art Bell comes on at 10:00, as mentioned last
week.

Death Watch

On December 31, 1999,
Cumulus Media stock was at an all-time high of $50.75. November 6th at the
closing bell, it was worth 29 cents. That’s a loss in value of more than 99
percent ... how much longer can the company survive, especially if the stock
ends up delisted on the NASDAQ exchange as it has been warned may happen by May,
2016?

A Lot Like Christmas

SiriusXM has beaten KOST
(103.5 FM) to the punch, with the launch of two all-holiday music channels
November 2 and more to come as the season gets closer. Get details at blog.siriusxm.com.

I’m betting KOST will jump
in, perhaps as soon as Monday.

Healy Recordings

Reader Richard Campos asks,
“Any idea how we can hear the old Jim Healy sports broadcasts?” As a matter of
fact: yes. YouTube has quite a few, posted by fans of the legendary broadcaster
who retired from KMPC (now KSPN, 710 AM) in late April, 1999. Amazing what you
can find there. If you’ve never heard Healy or you want to hear him again, do a
search on YouTube.

Funding Reel Radio

Richard Irwin’s top-40
radio museum known as Reel Radio (reelradio.com) is the reason I wanted a fast
modem back in the days of dial-up internet. I love listening to the old
recordings of classic radio.

In an effort to pay down
some bills from licensing fees, streaming costs and more, the nonprofit
organization has set up a Go Fund Me page at GoFundMe.Com/Reelradio, where fans can
donate to help pay down debt and help keep the site alive.

Or just go to the main site
for ReelRadio and donate there ... and listen to how radio used to sound.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

This
is the big weekend for SPERDVAC - the Society to Preserve and Encourage
Radio Drama, Variety And Comedy. It’s their convention weekend held
November 6th - 8th at the Holiday Inn Media Center at 150 E. Angeleno
Avenue in Burbank.

I’ve
already written about much of what you can do at the convention. There
will be recreations of Fibber McGee and Molly; Yours Truly, Johnny
Dollar; Sherlock Holmes; and two versions of the Lux Theater. There will
be panel discussions including one with Noel Blanc who will speak about
his father, Mel; and there will be numerous stars and others who were
part of early radio and television programs on hand for entertainment
and meet and greets.

What
has more recently come together is a panel discussion moderated by KABC
(790 AM) expert and former show host Bill Moran. This will feature Eric
Tracy, Carole Hemmingway, Tommy Hawkins, Royale Oaks, George Green Ira
Fistell, and Michael Harrison talking about the history of KABC radio
from the days in which the station mattered.

According
to Moran, there will be a focus on what made KABC a heritage station
(“lots of stories,” says Moran), a reflection on the careers of the
hosts since they left the station, and how talk radio has changed since
KABC first debuted the talk format in Los Angeles in the 1960s ... and
how it is changing again.

The KABC panel runs Saturday from 4 to 7:30 p.m.

For more information about the convention, head over to the SPERDVAC website at www.sperdvac.com, email sperdvac@gmail.com,
or call 877-251-5771. It’s too late to order tickets via the website,
but you can pay for admission at the door (cash or checks only); costs
range from $40 for the Sunday brunch and program to $200 for the entire
weekend.

Speaking of KABC ...

Art
Bell was once the host of Coast to Coast AM, heard locally on KFI (640
AM) from midnight to 5 a.m. weekdays and until 6 a.m. weekends.

He
basically retired from the show more than once for reasons that never
made much sense to me; I always thought he was a bit, well, unstable ...
which may explain his popularity on an overnight program dedicated to
the paranormal and UFOs.

Well,
he’s back. And KABC has picked up his new syndicated program, Midnight
in the Desert. This new program, which airs locally from 10 p.m to 1
a.m. weeknights, is about ... paranormal activity and UFOs.
Unfortunately for fans, its tape-delayed by an hour: the program is live
from 9 p.m. to midnight pacific time. To find ways around that if you
want to call in, for example, head to ArtBell.Com.

Otherwise, tune in and be entertained. Let me know what you think ... it will be interesting to see how this works for KABC.

Saving AM ... Again

The
FCC is finally actually doing something about AM radio’s problems,
though I fear it will turn out to be too little too late. It’s called
the AM Radio Revitalization Order which among other things makes it
theoretically easier for a station to upgrade its transmission
facilities without having to perform some difficult engineering.

But
reading the order seems to be more of an AM Broadcaster Revitalization
Order, as the focus of the order seems to be more directed at moving
stations off the band or allowing them to decrease coverage than
actually helping them survive on the oldest broadcast band.

Allowing
(encouraging) stations to obtain FM translators in which to simulcast
the signals on FM, allowing a station to cover with a strong signal on
only 50 percent of its licensed area rather than the current 80 percent
when making location changes, and allowing nighttime coverage of a
similar 50 percent of coverage area rather than 80 percent seems to go
against the idea of “saving” AM.

There
are many more new rules as well as proposed rule changes so I am going
to wait until my engineering friends have a chance to comment, but I
have to say, so far I am unimpressed with the FCC. Not that I expected
more.